Help Out A Collector : ToyBiz & X-Men Cards

Every so often, I get an e-mail asking for assistance with finding a particular piece of nerd paraphernalia… and usually, I’m so entrenched in the nerd word that I can help a brotha’ out. It’s rare that I run into a comic collectible that I wasn’t aware of, but this time, I was a little surprised at my own ignorance.

Back in the good ol’ days, even before I was really into reading comics, I would collect Marvel and DC trading cards. Marvel in particular seemed to endlessly pump out set after set, every year until I just got bored of Joe Jusko’s stiff artwork and Wolverine’s exact birthdate no longer held the magic that it once did. There were a ton of Marvel card collections, and the neighbor kids would trade them during warm afternoons, and in one particularly divisive incident, steal them from one another. The neighborhood was never the same after that.

During this same time as the first few sets of Marvel cards were being released, ToyBiz was producing some of the earlier X-Men and Marvel action figures. As was a common gimmick back in those days, many action figures would come packaged with a single trading card – usually always from one of those existing sets of Marvel cards, and usually something that you already had anyhow. No big deal. If I got an action figure, I’d tear the thing open and chuck the extra card into my box of doubles.

So, it’s not until 2009 that a Collectors’ Quest reader has informed me of the error of my ways. As it turns out, all of the cards that were packaged with these action figures were quietly and subtly branded with the ToyBiz logo – something that was not present on the normal edition of the cards, as they were usually made by a completely different company, like Topps or Impel. This variation had never been brought to my attention before.

Here’s where things get really complex for collectors (and I give much thanks to Jeramy Bonnelle, card collector, for sorting the information out). In 1991 and 1993, ToyBiz only packaged specific cards with specific figures, resulting in a series of 19 branded cards, none of which are too difficult to track down with packaged figures. However, in 1992, ToyBiz decided to reprint the entire 99-card Impel X-Men Series I set and randomly package them with the figures produced that year – a nightmare if you were interested in collecting the branded cards, or even packaging variations.

If you were crazy enough to try such a thing. Like Jeramy Bonnelle.

To make things worse, Jeramy informs me that these cards were roughly taped into the packages, unprotected, and very likely just torn out by the kids opening the toys – two factors that have degraded their condition immediately. I can’t imagine that almost 20 years with tape stuck to ‘em has done too well for the cards that are still sealed, either.

My presumption is that at least a good portion of toy collectors were also card collectors, and also that a good portion of collectors were also not aware of this variation at the time. Remember – we were pre-internet. If you didn’t have a buddy who was super-observant and collected on speculation, this info was downright esoteric. It’s likely that you have a few ToyBiz cards tossed in with your old Marvel card collections and don’t even know it.

Of course, Jeramy seeks these cards, and because I’m both fascinated that people are still collecting the old Marvel cards, and because it’s such an interesting variation to collect, I impel the nerdier readers of CQ to plumb the depths of their collections and drop Jeramy a line. He’s always looking for more, and to upgrade his existing collection.

By way of a visual aid, Jeramy provided these images. Comic geeks, prepare for a trip back in time. The set that was packaged randomly with the ToyBiz logo is the set that features the X-Factor card immediately above, where you can see the light grey ToyBiz logo hovering underneath the flavor text. The two Wolverine cards pictured above are from other sets and provided just for reference. If you can help, drop the guy a line at jdbonnelle77 at hotmail.com.

Good luck!